Cradle of adventure
by Arkus the Trojan
Summary: A story of four members of Surface exploration command, following their adventures on Cradle.
1. A whole new world

**Chapter 1: A whole new world**

He heard a loud, annoying ringing in his ears and felt his head resting on something hard. He slowly opened his eyes and lifted his head. He couldn't see anything. He reached forward and touched some metallic wall. He searched for a short while and then he grabbed a handle. He took a deep breath and pulled.

The hatch flew away and he crawled out of his escape pod, blinded by the light. His comlink suddenly came to life:

"Come in, PJ, do you copy? This is Recon knight Rhendon, do you read? Over."

"I'm here. What happened, Rhendon? Where are you?"

"I've crashed not far from your position. Head north, we'll meet at my pods crash site, but be careful! There are hostile creatures everywhere."

"Roger that, Rhendon. PJ out."

PJ was a young recruit of the spiral knight order. He was known by his instructors for being a "slowpoke warrior". He always took his time, taking cover, waiting for the right time to strike. This led to increased consumption of shields and, in some cases, armor, but was rewarded by fallen enemies.

He was wearing a Spiral Brigandine, a Spiral Crescent helm with a com unit and helm-mounted visor. He was also wielding a standard proto sword, gun and shield. He collected his weapons, attached the shield to his forearm, prepared his sword and vent to meet Rhendon.

As he was cutting his way through dense foliage, he heard a strange noise. He got to a meadow and saw a chameleon-like creature looking at him.

"Okay. Come here."

PJ covered himself with the shield and it automatically projected a barrier around him, protecting him from all kinds of damage. The creature wasn't doing anything. PJ slowly walked toward it. It was standing still, just looking at him.

"Are you a friend or foe, little one?" said PJ to himself and lowered his shield, "What is your nature?"

As he finished the sentence, the little creature jumped toward him, crouched and launched its tongue at him. It hit PJ hard enough to launch him backwards. He landed on his back and shook his head to shake off the concussion.

"Why, you little son of a…"

He didn't finish, because the bushes on the opposite side of the meadow shook and three pink, translucent cubes of something disgusting came out of it. PJ jumped to his feet, covering himself again. The four creatures slowly moved to him. PJ, based on his previous experience, determined to crush anything and everything in his path, charged at them, striking his sword. The hit severed the chameleons head, but the blade got stuck in the soil. Before he pulled it out, one of the cubes got close, twisted and rammed him. He grunted in pain, pulled his gun out of its holster and jumped away from the monsters. He took careful aim and made short work of the slimes. He reclaimed his sword and headed to Rhendons position.

"Ah, PJ, I'm glad to see a friendly face and not another hostile."

"You and me both, Rhendon. What happened?"

"We have landed on the surface of the Cradle. A planet we have been scanning when… well, I have no idea what happened. There is a camp set up by the other survivors just up ahead. I'd go with you but there may be others coming through here. Go on ahead, I'll see you back at the camp."

"Huh… Okay. Good luck, then. See you at the camp."

He moved ahead, leaving Rhendon behind. Then, he spotted three other knights.

"Friendly!"

"Yes, we see you. Come here."

PJ came to the knights. They were high-ranking veterans and they were just as confused as he was. That comforted him a bit.

"Hey, you're PJ, aren't you? Rhendon said you were coming."

"Yeah, that's me. Can we just get to that camp? I'm looking forward to a hot meal."

"You and me both. Let's… Wait, something's not right."

Out of nowhere, two puppy-looking gun turrets popped up, along with a large, mechanic creature. PJ was shocked.

"WHAAAT? What is that thing? I didn't sign for this."

"None of us did, so shut up and fight!" yelled one of the knights and attacked one of the turrets. PJ snapped out of the shock and flanked the mechanical being, attacking from its six o'clock. When one of the knights saw this, he quickly teamed up with him, drawing the beast's attention to himself, allowing PJ to deliver fatal blows. After they mopped up, they were done quickly.

"Whew, I don't want any more of this stuff, no thank you."

"Yeah… I hear you. Good job, PJ. Not bad for a recruit. Now come on, let's get to that camp."


	2. Mysteries yet untouched

**Chapter 2: Mysteries yet untouched**

PJ looked around the camp. Knights were sitting in front of makeshift shelters made from their escape pods, one soldier was trying to make fire. The knights he met earlier were standing watch in the camp. He saw two wounded recruits, but before he could go to them, he was stopped by another knight, who introduced herself as Squad leader Greta. After learning about the attack and that the camp has no power, he went to see the injured knights. He asked one of them what happened, but he was so frightened he kept repeating: "They came out of nowhere. They were too strong! I couldn't do anything!"

Then, he spotted Rhendon. He briefed him about the situation and expressed his doubts of surviving another night. When PJ told him about the generator, he was still skeptical about it.

"Greta said it's ANCIENT. Is it gonna work?"

"What else can we hope for? Or do you have any other ideas?"

"huh, you're probably right. Good luck, then."

PJ stepped off the elevator and stared in awe at the complex machinery everywhere around him.

"What the hell is this place?" he asked himself. He brought up his locator interface and checked his surroundings. He was alone. He decided to try a new strategy: instead of moving slowly, he was running through the area, until he met a group of tall, mechanical constructs with three eyes.

"Burn."

PJ covered himself with his shield, lunged toward them and bashed them with it. The monsters flew away, stunned and couldn't understand what happened. This left him vulnerable to PJ's final attack. It broke apart into hundreds of pieces. He was making good progress this way until he reached a large, two sectioned room with a semi-spherical metal object. He stepped onto a tube filled with tables. It caused a power surge and it made some mole-looking creature really angry.

"What are you doing here? Are you here to steal the artifact and destroy my research? NO! You miserable knights will never have the artifact and its power!"

PJ didn't have time to think about it as the metal object opened and something labeled "Battlepod" emerged from a hole underneath it.

"Oh-oh."

Along with the pod, several other monsters came from nowhere. They were no match, but the pod seemed invulnerable. Its shield was absorbing all damage. But then, it dropped the shield and begun venting heat from inside it.

"That's it, now you're so dead!"

PJ lunged toward it, sticking his proto sword into the heat vent and jumped back. When the battlepod tried to close the vents, the sword jammed them, making it unable to bring up its shield. Left unprotected, PJ's proto gun made short work of it. He then pulled the remains of his sword from the machine and used them to cut more cables. The mole creature who called itself "Schemer Razwog" appeared again, yelling at him again

"You little…! Don't you dare touch the artifact! I'll be back for you!"

PJ was always happy to make someone angry. That's why he was kind of forever alone, but he preferred to be alone than in the crowd. He used to have four good friends, engineers on the Skylark, but three of them died when the core exploded and the last one got killed when his pod's airbrake failed and he hit the ground too hard. This is why he was so happy about making Razwog rage. He grabbed the artifact, threw away what was left of his sword and took the lift back to the camp.

After he returned, everyone was happy about the turrets being powered again and a lot of knights were congratulating him, including the three veterans he fought with earlier. The fire was burning and he could just sit there with other recruits and enjoy the safety. When he thought about it, it wasn't that bad. He was alive, he wasn't alone, there was plenty of food and water and he was relatively safe. It could have been a lot worse. Someone sat next to him. It was Rhendon.

"I spoke with Spiral HQ. They have settled in Haven, a city just across the chasm. They want us to bring that thing you found in the clockworks to them for studying."

"Okay. When are we going?"

"Early in the morning. I suggest you get some sleep."

"I was just thinking the same thing. See you in the morning then."


	3. Crossing the chasm

**Chapter 3: Crossing the chasm**

They stepped off the elevator and Rhendon took the lead. They were making a fairly good progress until they encountered a room filled with explosives. In a matter of seconds, Razwog came from behind one of the bombs.

"I told you I'll be back. Hand over the artifact or I'll blow you to pieces."

"Looks like we don't have a choice, PJ. This guy isn't worth dying over." Said Rhendon and gave the artifact to the gremlin.

"Not a good idea" said PJ, but it was too late.

"Good. Now, I'll just take the artifact and blow you up anyway!" yelled Razwog, triggered the explosives and ran away. The two knights just brought up their shields and crossed their fingers. When PJ recovered from the blast, his shield was disabled and he was knocked off his feet. He helped Rhendon up and assumed command, running away from the room. They made their way through the collapsing facility until they found Razwog struggling with a malfunctioning gate.

"WHAT?! You're still here? How? I'll just have to kill you myself."

"Watch out for that flamethrower, PJ."

The two split up. While Rhendon was attacking Razwog's minions with his blitz needle, PJ, who got a new sword as a reward for his previous mission, squared up with the gremlin himself. Razwog was slow and furious, which led to reduced ability to concentrate. PJ, on the other hand, was quick and often attacked his legs, further slowing Razwog. Soon, he dropped dead. They grabbed the artifact and headed to the heaven.

After getting to know the way things go in Heaven, being told about battle sprites and saving a couple of them, he was put in front of a difficult decision: creating an eternal bond. PJ didn't like decisions. That's why never wanted to be a leader of a group. But he's fought with all three types of sprites.

The Drakon was useless. It didn't impress him in any way. The Seraphynx wasn't bad, but the reach of its primary attack had too short range. The Maskeriath was something else. Being a "Slowpoke warrior", PJ found the shadow cloak very handy and the poisonous bolts were also quite useful. It was the way to go.

After being introduced to arcade, PJ went to test out his new friends abilities. When he descended to depth 11, his comlink came to life.

"This is Spiral HQ to PJ, do you copy? Over."

"This is PJ, go on HQ."

"PJ, our recon squad of six Soldiers has gone dark at depth 13. I know you are a soldier yourself, but you are closest to them. I can't order you to do it, but they could be in trouble."

"I understand. I'll see what I can do. If I won't be able to progress, I'll let you know. PJ out."

"Roger that, PJ good luck, out."

He looked at his sprite. "Looks like we're going deeper. You with me?"

The sprite didn't do anything, but PJ was so enjoying his companion that he didn't care. "Of course you are. You need a name."

He progressed deeper and deeper into the clockworks. So far, it wasn't that difficult. So far. The first problem appeared when he tried to contact HQ again.

"Spiral HQ, this is PJ, do you copy? I've reached depth thirteen. Can you point me towards the last known position of the lost squad?

He heard nothing but static.

"HQ? HQ, this is PJ do you read? HQ?"

Nothing. He couldn't explain why was this happening. He decided to continue. He was amazed by this planet. A planet filled with complex machinery, cycling levels under the surface. Then he entered a large room with some sort of jammer and a dead spiral knight. He came up to him and saw the cause: a large hole in his chest. He took his armor module and looked at the machine. It was some sort of jamming device. According to the service panel, it used the dead knight's comlink to transmit pulses that jammed all communication on that frequency. PJ unplugged the knight's comlink from the panel, switched the whole machine off and stabbed in with his sword, disabling it for good. He tried his comlink.

"Spiral HQ, this is PJ. Can you read me? I have just deactivated a jammer that was jamming our comms."

"Roger that, PJ, good work. Have you found the squad?"

"Negative, but I found a deceased knight. I've taken his ID module. Transmitting coordinates now."

"We got them. We'll try contacting those knights again, standby."

The door he came through suddenly opened and about two dozens of gremlins rushed in, immediately attacking him.

"PJ to HQ, under attack. Last coordinates!" he shouted and charged the gremlins. He did everything he could. Shield failed, his sword was knocked out of his hand and the gremlins overwhelmed him.


	4. Strenght in unity

**Chapter 4: Strength in unity**

He slowly regained his consciousness. He was lying on something soft and he didn't feel the weight of his armor. He slowly opened his eyes. He was staring at a ceiling, which was about thirty centimeters above him. "Okay, a bunk bed, or a gremlin prison" he thought, "Better be the first option, otherwise I'm screwed." He looked around himself. He was indeed on a bunk bed. There was orange light coming in through a small window. That could mean two things. Whatever was outside was on fire, or he was on the surface and the sun was setting. He saw a Spiral knight sitting in one of the corners, doing something on a table. Next to him was a wooden pole with his helmet on top of it. He was wearing only his under armor shirt and pants. He tried to jump down on the ground, but he was weaker than he thought. His legs turned into jelly and he collapsed to the floor, followed by a loud, hollow thud. The knight turned around and started to laugh. PJ slowly pulled himself from the floor. The other knight, still laughing, hurried to him and helped him up.

"Sorry, but I just can't help myself, hehehe. You were a mess when we brought you in."

PJ took a seat and took a moment to get his strength back.

"Who are you? How did I get here?"

"My name's Shadow. I was a member of the squad you were sent to rescue. HQ got your distress call and gave us the coords to your position. You and your armor were in a horrible shape. We carried you out of there. Your goddamned shield weights a lot, you know that?" she said and pointed at his plate shield, "And who are you?"

"Name's PJ. Thanks for getting me out. Where are the others?"

"They went on a reconnaissance mission."

"And you are the unlucky individual who drew the short straw to stay here and repair my armor?"

"No, I'm the lazy engineer who did it so I don't have to go out in the field."

"Lazy, or afraid?" asked PJ teasingly and stood up to get his armor.

"Lazy. Your armor and shield are good to go. No need to thank me."

PJ put on his armor and helmet. "Thanks anyway. Guess I owe you a beer or something?"

"Heh. Nah, you need to stay sober to aim."

PJ came out and was surprised they were in haven. They had to carry him a long way. He checked around the bazaar, sold some old weapons and materials he didn't need and got some rest near the fountain. After this day, he was happy he could just relax and enjoy being alive. As he was watching the snipes hopping around, HQ called again.

"This is spiral HQ. PJ, we have a lot squads exploring the clockworks, but we still have no idea about the surface of the Cradle. We are assembling squads to gather as much information as they can. Are you interested? Over."

"Of course. The clockworks are fascinating, but some fresh air is always good. Where do I go, what do I do? Over."

"Calm down you hothead. Just go to the arcade and talk to a knight named Mjolnir. He's assembling a squad. If he accepts you, it's up to him."

When he entered the arcade, Mjolnir was standing near one of the gates along with to other knights. PJ came up to them. Mjolnir was wearing a fused demo helm, Angelic Raiment armor and he was wielding a Stable rocket hammer and a Magnus. His shield was a Great defender.

"Are you here to join my squad?"

"Yes, sir. I've been told by Spiral HQ that you are assembling a squad to explore the surface of the Cradle."

"That's right. Have you ever been to the clockworks?"

"I've reached depth thirteen max, sir."

"Okay. What's your specialization?"

"I'm a Striker."

"Fine. That's five of us. That will be enough."

"Five, sir? I can only see four."

"I'm Mjolnir. I'll be the squad leader. This is Rhinoceros. He's a guardian, like me. We'll be keeping the rest of the squad safe. This is Blackcat. She's a Recon. She'll be our eyes and ears. You know yourself, I hope. I've made a deal with a tech knight, but she's gone to get a better sword."

As he finished the sentence, the said tech knight walked in. And she was awfully familiar.

"This is Shadow, our tech guy. Or gal."

"Yes, we already met."

"Oh, hey! Thought you will take a day off after that twenty versus one accident you had there."

"Yeah, joke all you want."

"Okay, people. We will set out tomorrow at dawn. Get some sleep and gather your stuff. We won't see Haven for a long time."


	5. The great journey

**Chapter 5: The great journey**

The sun was just rising, when the five knights assembled at the Eastern gate of Haven. Each of them was carrying a large backpack with food, ammunition, mapping and geological equipment, tents, medical supplies and a portable alchemy machine. They gave their goodbyes to Haven and headed out into the sunrise.

They were mostly quiet, save for admiring the view of tall waterfalls and wonderful landscape. This planet was amazing both on the inside and on the outside. To North and Northeast from Haven were endless plains with canyons making the planet look cracked. Western part of the Cradle was composed of chunks of different height. Some of them were missing and one could see the clockworks, even from outer space. North and south poles were covered with mountains. East of the Haven were tall mountains, featuring the highest point on the Cradle. At least that's what logs that were recovered from the Skylark said. They wanted to explore the mountainous area to the east. A day has passed and when the sun begun to set, a makeshift camp was built. Four tents were built in a semicircle, with Mjolnirs tent opposite them, creating a small "square" between these tents. Shadow was taking geological samples, Mjolnir was setting up the fire and Blackcat, PJ and Rhinoceros were searching the surrounding landscape for hostiles. They found nothing but a single Chromalisk and two Wolvers. Later in the evening, when the sun has set, the five knights were sitting around the fire.

"Well, that's our first day." Said Mjolnir, "threat level seems to be low around here, but don't let your guard down, anyway. We are one of the first to explore the Cradles surface. How does that feel? Now, I'm not sure about this place, so I would like to have a guard awake through the night. The problem is, the ones guarding in the middle won't sleep too much. Any volunteers?"

"I'll take it, Sir."

"Good. Rhino has the third watch. Anyone up for the other ones?"

"I'll take the last one."

"I've got the second watch."

"So that's Blackcat for second, PJ for the last. Shadow, which one are you taking?"

"Doesn't matter. Pick one."

"Very well, then, I got the first one, Shadow has the fourth one."

Four of the knights went to their tents and Mjolnir remained to stand watch.

PJ was woken up by light wind on his face. The night was calm and warm. It was still ten minutes to the start of his watch. When he was a child, he was suffering from multiple sleep problems. It always took him a long time to fall asleep but once he was under, nothing could wake him up. This is why he didn't need too much of it. And when he woke up during the night, it took him a while to fall asleep again, so he didn't even try. Instead, he stood up, got his gear and went out his tent. Shadow was sitting near the campfire, leaning against a log with her feet up on another one, her sword and shield lying beside her. He heard loud snarling from Rhinos tent. He came up to Shadow.

"May I take a seat?"

She flinched. "God, don't do this! I was THIS CLOSE to a heart attack. What are you doing awake? You still have… ten minutes."

"Couldn't sleep." He said as he sat down, "Saw anything"

"Nope. It's kind of lonely out here. Rhino woke you up?"

"Hehe. No, I woke up on my own. I'm used to sleeping for a short time."

"Eh, lucky you. It always takes me an hour to get up. Why did you take this expedition?"

"The Clockworks are fascinating, but nobody really knows what the surface is like. I figured being one of the few to document it is going to gain me some publicity, not to mention seeing the wonderful landscape around here."

"Yes, the planet is indeed amazing."

"And why did you take it?"

"I'm not OK with the idea of getting hammered by waves of creatures in the clockworks. Seeing you in the jammer room was enough."

"So I was right in the first place. You ARE afraid to go down there, aren't you?"

"Not really afraid. It's just… I don't feel comfortable down there."

"That feeling when there is zero tolerance for error? That if you screw something up, you, someone else, or both aren't going home?"

"Yes, that. I see you know it too?"

"Everyone does."

Shadow yawned. "Would you mind increasing your watch by a couple minutes?"

"Sure, no problem."

"Thanks."

Shadow stood up and left for her tent, while PJ assumed her position and looked into the night.

Blackcat crawled out of her tent, eyes still closed, yawned, opened her eyes and froze in shock. In the middle of the camp was a wooden cross with a wolver skin pinned to it. Next to it was PJ, kneeling over another dead wolver, knocking its teeth out of its jaws. A couple dead Chromalisks and a Lumber were piled up a bit further away from the camp. She snapped out of the shock and walked up to PJ.

"What the heck are you doing? Is that some sort of ritual or something?"

"I met a Gremlin at Haven who was making clothing and jewelry from these. Thought I'll bring him some."

Mjolnir and Shadow walked out of their tents, blinded by the light.

"Hey, PJ! Why didn't you wake us up when they attacked?"

"Should I wake you up next time a fly passes by?"

"Don't be so cocky. One day, you'll underestimate something you shouldn't have and you'll be gone before you know it."

"Yes, sir. Sorry, sir."

They packed their camp, reported to Spiral HQ and set out for the mountains. The party was making a good progress, climbing the hills. They were just passing a long, curved ravine when Mjolnir sat down on a rock, admiring the view, prompting everyone else to put down their backpacks and rest. Shadow took some samples of the soil and rocks while Blackcat tried to map their surroundings. Rhinoceros, PJ and Mjolnir just admired the view.

"What's that, in the distance?" PJ was pointing at something sticking out of the cliffside. Shadow zoomed in with her helm display. "It looks like some sort of castle." PJ walked closer to the edge of the ravine. He was standing on a patch of stones, when he felt them lower for about a centimeter. He froze and than he disappeared in a hole under where he was standing. The rest of the knights ran to the hole and saw PJ lying on the ground, quietly cursing to himself.

"Are you OK?"

"Yes, I am, but I don't like the sounds I hear."

"What sounds? PJ?"

PJ pulled out his Needle shot. "Spookats!" he shouted and fired into the darkness.


	6. United we stand, divided we fall

**Chapter 6: United we stand, divided we fall**

Mjolnir, not thinking about the consequences of his actions, jumped into the hole to help PJ. It was a common deviation of seasoned guardians. After so many years of protecting their squadmates, they didn't think about anything else. Meanwhile, PJ was mowing down a wave after wave of Spookats.

"Anytime, guys!"

That was when Mjolnir jumped in, slamming two Spookats into the ground with his Sudaruska. As brothers in arms, the two knights kept buying more and more time for the others to get them out.

"This place looks awfully similar to the Candlestick keep."

"Don't even mention it, it brings back bad memories."

Meanwhile, the others were trying to find something to tie the rope to. With no success.

"I can't find any place to attach the rope to!"

"Screw it! We'll just have to pull them out of there!"

Rhinoceros and Blackcat held the rope while Shadow came to the hole: "Grab the rope! We'll pull you up!"

"You first."

"No, Leader is more important. You go, I'll hold the fort."

Mjolnir began scaling the rope while PJ was "holding down the fort". Mjolnir got up and helped the others pull the rope. PJ grabbed the rope, but when they begun to lift him, the rope failed and PJ fell on his back, leaving him stunned. As he slowly got up, a gremlin thwacker appeared behind him, knocking him unconscious and dragging him away.

He was woken up by two masked gremlins. He was tied to a chair in what looked like a small room with no windows and, judging by the air condition, no ventilation. What was worse, there were large pliers hanging on the wall. A gremlin interrogation room, more like a torture room. This wasn't good.

"Why are you here? What are you miserable knights doing here?"

"You think I'll tell to a Mole?"

One of the gremlins hit his leg with some mace-looking weapon. The gremlins weren't very smart, so they didn't take off his armor, but it still hurt.

"Who are you?"

"Spiral order's Soldier PJ, number 116278."

"And what are you doing here?"

"Not gonna tell you."

Another hit.

"Deal with it. You're going to kill me before getting anything out of me."

Another hit.

"Just give it up."

As the gremlin prepared to hit him one more time, a third one rushed inside the room, yelling at the other two. After a brief talk, they untied him from the chair and dragged him into a dark hallway.

When they exited the building, PJ noticed they were in the clockworks. Judging by how high above him was the ceiling, it could be around depth two or three. If only he could get away, he might be able to get to the surface. He wasn't tied up, but there were two gremlins holding his arms. One of them had his Calibur, the other one was holding his Needle shot. There were a couple more gremlins holding various weapons, guns and shields. He wasn't the first knight captured. They had to walk down a staircase and that was the moment PJ was waiting for. He jerked his body forward, using his weight to his aid and flew down the stairs, taking both gremlins with him. Thanks to his armor, he wasn't stunned by this fall. This allowed him to collect his weapons and run. Driven by slight anger, he stabbed the gremlin that was doing the beating into the chest and ran away.

Of course the other gremlins didn't like that and PJ had to dance between bullets. His legs were weak and felt like jelly, but he had to keep going. A pause or a mistake could mean death. He kept running on, randomly jumping from one side of the corridor to another. The gremlins were poor runners and even worse marksmen, but eight of them running behind him, some of them armed, was giving him the chills. He was running through narrow corridors, wide platforms and varying environments. But then, he came to a dead end. The walkway was destroyed by an explosion and two meters of it were gone. PJ stopped and turned around, trying to catch his breath. The gremlins arrived and formed a line-a firing squad. PJ turned around and did the only thing he could. He jumped. It only took a couple of seconds, but it felt like an eternity. He reached forward and felt his hands land on the other side of the walkway. For a second or two, it felt he got a firm grip, but then his left hand slipped.

"Crap!"

A large explosion wiped out the squad of gremlins behind him and as his right hand slipped off the platform, someone reached out and grabbed his wrist.

"Hang on! Don't let go!"

A familiar figure struggled with his weight and than he felt being pulled up. For a couple seconds, he was just kneeling on the ground, catching his breath and trying to believe he is alive. Than he stood up and looked his savior into the eyes. For a brief moment, he saw deep concern in those red eyes but suddenly, the person lowered its head and begun to laugh.

Hysterical laughter was a common reaction to recently passed threat among many people, including PJ and Shadow. When they finally stopped laughing, they both had many questions.

"Whew, I guess I owe you two beers now. Thanks, thanks for getting me out of there. How did you get here, anyway?"

"When the little annoying rats kidnapped you we split into pairs and went to look for you. Rhino and Blackcat have gone dark and Mjolnir was wounded. I'll be honest: I have no idea where we are, where are Rhino and Cat and how to get out of here."

"Well that is awesome, out of the frying pan, into the fire. Come on, where is Mjolnir?"

When they reached him, he was lying on the ground, firing his Magnus at three devilite overtimers. Despite still being weak, PJ charged them with his Calibur, only to miss and ram into the wall. One of the overtimers stopped and laughed his ass off, pointing at PJ. This enraged him. He dropped his sword and shield, shot the other two overtimers, ran to the laughing one and picked him up.

"Goodnight." He said and threw it into the depths of the clockworks.

"My god, PJ! Shadow found you?"

"As you can see."

"Found him grasping the straws. Literary."

"What happened to you guys? Heard you split up into pairs."

"We went down here to look for you. We split into pairs, but we lost contact with Cat and Rhino. We've been ambushed by some devilities. It wouldn't be a problem, but a Firegut snuck past and bit me into the leg."

"Can you walk?"

"Not a chance."

"Ok. We'll get you to the surface. Shadow, cover us, Mjolnir, grab my hand."

PJ supported Mjolnir while Shadow kept watch.

"That Sudaruska makes you quite heavy." PJ grunted.

In four minutes, they ascended to the surface and reached their backpacks. Mjolnir and Shadow were sitting in one of the tents. PJ tried to radio Rhino and Blackcat, but with no success.

"I can't raise them on comms. They are either out of range, getting jammed, or…"

"Or what…?"

"Or they're dead."

"Let's hope they're fine. So, what do we do? We just wait?"

"You wait here. I'll see if I can find them. Can you point me in the direction they went?"

"Nonsense, PJ, that's a suicide."

"Shadow's right. We have no idea what is happening. They could be anywhere."

"So you just want to sit around and wait. Well, you have no choice, but at least one of us could do something."

"I know it might sound stupid, but you need to look at it the other way: It is very unlikely you will find them there. The Clockworks are filling out the whole planet, and the upper layers are the largest ones. It would be stupid to go in there, only to get lost or killed. And who knows, I, or anyone else might not be there to pull you out of the fire. Think before you do something stupid."

Just as she finished the sentence, the Comlinks of all three knights came to life. It was Blackcat. She had her left eye closed, there was a large scar near it, her armor and helmet were scratched and bent and Rhino was behind her, pulling himself from the ground. He was in the same shape, if not worse.

"This is recon knight Blackcat, Spiral order's Soldier number 156807! We are under heavy Devilite attack, we are sending coordinates and requesting support! Does anyone copy?"

"This is Shadow! We are reading you? What is your status?"

"We're at depth one on some city like level! We've already killed about six pit bosses, but more keep coming!"

PJ was checking his locator for a couple of seconds.

"Cat, you're about six minutes from an elevator! Head ehh… south! I'll meet you there!"

He grabbed his sword. Mjolnir got up. "Help me climb on this tree. I'll be safe there and you will both be able to go."

They helped him up there and left for their CSAR* mission. In a couple minutes, they were in the clockworks again. In another minute or two, they heard footsteps, gunshots and swearing. PJ took cover behind a crate and Shadow prepared her bomb. Rhino appeared first. His leg was bleeding. When he limped by, he finally sat down. Blackcat was running towards them, with Firebrander projectiles and office equipment flying past her from one way and needles from PJ's needle shots the other way. She lunged past them and Shadow blew up the walkway, blocking the Devilites path. They went up to the surface and soon after, the fire was burning and the camp was fortified.

*CSAR-Combat Search And Rescue


	7. Retraite

**Chapter 7: Retraite**

The night was long. Shadow and PJ had to stand watch the whole night because Mjolnir and Rhino couldn't defend themselves and Blackcat could barely see. PJ suddenly saw something.

"Contact, my sector. It's a Slime, I'm moving to eliminate."

"Copy, be careful."

He disappeared in dense foliage. Something suddenly moved.

"Engaged, 5+ hostiles, retreating!"

"Shadow, catch!" Blackcat threw her Alchemer to Shadow.

"Thanks."

Gunshots took over the night as PJ unleashed hell and by the time Shadow reached the other side of the camp, PJ was done.

"Area clear, cancel alert."

"Why won't you ever leave any of them for us?"

The rest of the night was calm. PJ scavenged the slimes and came back with six rocky cores. A delicious breakfast. After they broke them down and enjoyed their snack, they set out. Blackcat and Rhino managed to recover into a somewhat working state, but Mjolnir's condition was getting worse. He could barely walk. Rhino and PJ had to take shifts in supporting him. The day has passed and they weren't too far away from their previous camp. They weren't going to make much progress like this. The next day, Mjolnir couldn't even get up and when his wound got inflamed, resulting in a fever, it was clear they couldn't progress further. The next evening, Shadow called the Spiral HQ, reported their situation and findings and requested evac. In less than a day, two carriages, each pulled by four modified Scuttlebots arrived and loaded the party. The next early afternoon, they reached Haven.

The other surface squads had about the same success. Some of their members had nightmares, were wounded or came back in a coffin. Mjolnir didn't recover from his wounds. His leg was crippled. The five knights have been awarded the Medal of Valor for their journey and a promotion to the rank of Knight. Mjolnir, Rhino and Blackcat received the Purple Heart. But Spiral HQ was so amazed with what the squads found on the surface. Later that day, a Surface Exploration Command, or SEC, was formed. Lead by Mjolnir himself, under the rank of a Defender. This small detachment of officers was tasked with recruiting knights on similar surface expeditions and directing their operations. This was supported by the fact Alpha squad was nowhere to be found, thus the knights weren't able to restore the Skylark. Knowing this, the Spiral HQ thought it would be useful to know as much about the Cradle as possible.

The rest of the squad got the R&R* they deserved. Blackcat spent a lot of time at the training hall, trying to prevent getting overwhelmed again. Rhino and PJ became very good friends, often spending time at a small but nice brasserie, run by a Gremlin outcast, often visited by recruits. Higher ranking knights like PJ and Rhino were rare guests in these cheap pubs and their stories and advice were often sought by rookies. They also helped younger knights with their missions, becoming quite popular. Shadow spent a lot of the time at the square, watching the Snipes for hours just wandering around. She was very fascinated by these cute little birds. She even got one herself as a pet. Mjolnir didn't have any rest as he split his time between organizing the SEC and sleeping. Their findings were surely interesting. According to the intel brought by them and the other squads, there were dozens of castle-like structures like the one PJ saw just before he was captured by the gremlins. This was rather interesting find. They could be another Owlite ruins like the Candlestick keep, or it could be something completely different. And if it wasn't interesting enough, they were connected to the clockworks. In addition, one of them was close to Haven. The SEC was ordered to send a squad to investigate.

*R&R-Rest and Refit


	8. Murphy's laws

**Chapter 8: Murphy's laws**

PJ was leaning against the arsenal station in the ready room with two squires. They were waiting for Rhino, who for some reason didn't show up today.

"Where is he?"

"Dunno. He's always on time."

"PJ, this is Rhino. Do you read?"

PJ looked at his video feed. Rhino was standing in a room with four more soldiers chatting behind him.

"Where are you? Why are you calling? You were supposed to be here eleven minutes ago."

"Listen, SEC is forming squads to investigate the strange castles on the surface. Are you in or no?"

"Sure! Sign me in."

"Our staging point is the Northern gatehouse. Don't take anything except your equipment. We'll be supplied by HQ."

"Copy that. I'll be there in ten mikes or so. Out."

PJ excused himself from the ready room and in a couple minutes, he was standing in the North gatehouse. Being one of the original surface explorers, he was valued, as well as other knights like him. Both Rhino and PJ were surprised to see their former teammates, Shadow and Blackcat, waltz into the room. They were even more surprised when Mjolnir walked inside. After a brief welcome, he introduced the four to the rest of the soldiers. A defender and three knight elites. They were more than offended when they learned they were the second squad. Because PJ and others knew more about the surface, their ranks were ignored.

This time, the journey was quite short and in about six hours, they reached the castle. It was a large complex with many thin towers and a large tower in the middle.

"Hey, look. The middle tower is glowing."

"Don't get distracted."

A terrible roar echoed through the walls as they drew their weapons and shields. In a blink of an eye, hordes of drouls and dust zombies came out of the ground. Outnumbered, they were forced to run. Passing one of the towers, a large zombie with a shield came from behind it and cut one of the supports, collapsing the tower, separating PJ, Shadow, Rhinoceros and Blackcat from the other knights. They were forced to fight. When it became clear they couldn't make it, the ground under them collapsed and they fell into some sort of dungeon. Buried inside, they struggled to find a light source. Shadow's Fireburst brandish did the trick. The silence was terrifying, so was the static they heard when they tried to contact the other half of the group. They couldn't be far. The group was making its way through the old, dark corridors. Using torches, ignited by Shadow's sword, to light their path, clearing occasional zombies along the way, until they stood in front of a large gate. Shadow tried to call HQ.

"Spiral HQ, this is Sierra squad, do you read?"

"We're reading you loud and clear. The rest of your squad told us about what happened. Can you locate them?"

"We'll tell you when we find something. Out."

They stacked up and breached the door, revealing the horrors inside. The four other soldiers were lying on the ground, one of them was torn in half. There was blood everywhere.

"PJ to Spiral HQ. We have found the rest of the squad."

"What is their status?"

"On the ground, on the walls. I think I can see a bit on he ceiling, too."

"Huh, copy. What are you planning to do?"

PJ looked at the others.

"Opinions?"

"Let's see what this place is about so their deaths are not in vain."

"HQ, we are going to stay in this castle for a while. We'll keep you posted. Out."

"Roger that, Sierra. Good luck. Out."

They wanted to leave that slaughterhouse, but one of the walls collapsed as the large zombie charged through it. Some boulders fell from the ceiling.

"The coiling is gonna collapse!"

The large zombie stood in front of the door and multiple drouls came from the hole as well. They were no match, but the large one was still blocking the door.

"The pillars seem week! Maybe we can bring the ceiling down at him!"

Shadow and Blackcat were distracting it, while Rhino hit one of the pillars with his Kamarin. Right when the zombie noticed him and turned toward him, PJ stabbed his Calibur into its back. Before it recovered, PJ jumped back and Rhino destroyed the second pillar and dived out of the way, just before the ceiling collapsed, burying the zombie under it. After some digging, they recovered PJs sword, took some equipment from the dead soldiers and ventured further into the depths into the mysterious castle.

Their steps echoed through the silent corridors and when they stopped, their breath could be clearly heard.

"This place is freaky."

"Rather be in the candlestick running from the momma kat than this."

When they came to the sixth four-way crossing, Shadow started to be a bit nervous.

"It's starting to feel like a labyrinth. It's like we're marching into a trap."

"If we turn left one more time, we'll step on our own tail. This place is huge."

"Just stay calm and stick with the group. You don't want to get separated here."

Blackcat suddenly froze.

"Guys… hold your breath."

They stopped breathing for a second… but they could still hear breathing.

As one person, they drew their weapons and formed a circle. They now heard footsteps and in a matter of seconds, they knew what the source was


	9. Fox-trot Uniform

**Chapter 9: Fox-trot Uniform**

The rays of light fell on the fur of a large, Snarbolax looking creature with a flat bone on its head. It appeared less than a meter before PJ. They stared at each other for a moment, but before PJ snapped out of the shock, the beast jerked its head, slammed it into PJ, which sent him head first into the wall. His wounds would be enormous, if it wasn't for Rhino, who jumped into his path to serve as a pillow. But it still knocked him unconscious and stunned Rhino. With the Striker and Guardian down, the fight was all up to the gals. Neither Blackcat nor Shadow had much time to react as the monster charged at them, waving its paws around. While Blackcat leapt aside, Shadow was a bit slower to react and only managed to turn around. The beast struck her in the back and sent her to the ground. The impact was so strong it cracked some of the tiles on the floor. The beast didn't pay any attention to Blackcat and turned toward Shadow. She was lying on the floor, groaning in pain. She rolled to her back only to see the beast standing over her. Believing Blackcat to be unconscious, Shadow covered her eyes and waited for the strike.

The strike came from a different direction. A quiet whistle could be heard as the Tempered Honor Blade pierced the air and penetrated the beast's hide. The monster flinched to shake it off. Blackcat didn't have time to let go of the sword and as the beast flinched, it sent her into the ceiling and than she fell onto the ground. She saw a black curtain coming down over her view and then nothing.

Meanwhile, Rhino was getting back up to his feet. He checked if PJ was still alive and as he was about to attack the beast, Blackcat smashed onto the ground next to him, falling unconscious. As a guardian, he became furious for not protecting his comrades. Wanting to avenge them, he charged at the beast, utilizing every curse he knew, swinging his sword over his head, delivering a powerful blow. The sword hit the beast's head with so much force it made the beast to fall off of its feet, briefly stunning it. As he recovered from the strike and prepared to deliver another one, the monster also got back on its feet. As Rhino swung his sword, the beast lunged at him with immense force. When he got hit by its head, it knocked all the air out of his lungs. He landed on the ground next to PJ, who was just regaining consciousness.

PJ heard loud yelling and recognized Rhino, sending someone or something back into hell. A moment later, he heard a thud and Rhino landed next to him. PJ reached out to him, but his hand dropped of exhaustion. But than he saw the beast. It was slowly walking toward Shadow. With the last remains of his strength, he pulled out his needle shot and fired a burst.

One of the bolts hit the beast's leg. It began screaming. Shadow noticed an opportunity. She primed her Ash of Agni and threw it at the beasts head. The bomb fell near the monster. It probably thought it was a part of a knight. Determined to cause harm, it bit the bomb. The following explosion sucked most of the oxygen from the corridor. They were lucky there were two long, narrow vents leading to the surface. It could be about ten to twenty meters. It also knocked them back a bit, effectively waking Rhino and PJ up. After a brief moment, Blackcat came to her senses as well. The explosion turned the beasts head into dust.

PJ was dizzy, Shadow could barely walk, Rhino was mostly fine and Blackcat had trouble moving her right arm. Rhino was supporting Shadow and they went a bit back. They went past the room with their dead comrades, taking their ID modules and setting up a camp near the surface. They barricaded themselves inside a room with only one entrance and two vent shafts to keep themselves alive and hoped to wait out the night.

PJ had horrible nightmares during the night. He kept dreaming about the beast they encountered. In his dream, the beast tore the squad apart. He was the last. It charged at him and tore him in half. This dream kept repeating over and over and over again. Shadow had trouble even falling asleep. Her legs, ribcage and head still hurt from the impact. Every time she took a breath, a spike of pain struck her chest. Rhino slept well, except for waking up every hour to check on everyone else. He suffered the least damage, being the only one who could fight at nearly 100 percent. Blackcat slept the whole night. She had to lie on her left side because of her wounded right arm. Their armor was dirty, their shields bent and their morale devastated. PJs helmet display wasn't working. In the morning, they knew they couldn't stay in there for too long. But to get home, they first had to find a way to the surface. After seeing what lurks in these ancient ruins, nobody wanted to return there and look for a way out. But they had no other option.

"Running around here, hoping to find a way doesn't seem to be the way to go to me. We know we're not far from the surface. The only thing we don't really know is how to get topside. But we could use these vents to do it."

"What do you mean?"

"If we could find a rope, long enough to reach the surface, maybe we could climb out of here."

"That's a good idea, PJ, but A: we don't have a rope, B: there is no way Shadow can climb up."

"Blackcat and I can climb up and pull her up. Rhino can either stay down here to guard her or you can climb first and secure it there. That is, of course, if we find that rope and some sort of grappling hook."

"Than again, we still have no rope, nor the hook."

"Da hook!"

"And this place doesn't seem to be some sort of climbing equipment store, does it?"

"Heh, I'm not getting any valuable input from you, am I?"

"Nah, thinking is something like working on a computer: the more stuff you do, the more it heats up. Don't want to burn my head from the inside."

PJ just shook his head, smiling under the mask of resignation over his friends. He even envied Shadow her optimism. Despite her wounds, she could still come up with something like this. He poke out of the doorway and called HQ.

"HQ, this is Sierra one. We have encountered a massive, unknown creature. We should have two audiovisual recordings of this encounter. But given our status, I'm not sure. We are all injured and unable to get out in a short time. We are trapped in the underground complex of this castle, about twenty to thirty meters below the surface. Over."

"Holy… you're still alive? We thought we'll never hear from you again. Hold on, there is someone who would like to speak with you."

PJ waited for a moment. He could hear something that sound like thunder walking across the floor. Then he understood: a cane.

"PJ, my god. Do you know where you are? What is your condition?"

PJ smiled and came back into the room to others. For some reason, he suddenly felt a lot better just knowing the highest-ranking member of SEC cares about them. He enabled his vidcom and pointed its camera at the four. When the camera begun recording, Mjolnir didn't seem to understand what he saw. They were dirty, their faces were full of scars and Shadow had to be held straight up by Blackcat and Rhino.

"What has happened to you lot?"

Rhino explained: "We've encountered an angry resident who tried to kick us out. He was about 2 meters tall, had four legs and teeth. Whole lotta teeth."

"I see. Can you get at least one of you to the surface and plant a tracking beacon?"

"Not in a short while. We would need a rope and some sort of grappling hook."

"Is there a way to get just the beacon topside?"

PJ scratched his head.

"Hell, that might work. Thanks for the tip. We'll try."

"Glad I could help. I still owe you for the Overtimer incident."

"You owe me nothing."

PJ ended the call and thought about their situation for a moment.

"Okay, you guys find out if you can get that beacon in place. Shadow, you will track my progress. I'm going into the dungeon to find the rope and the hook."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, but don't stall me before I think it over."

He slipped through the barricade and held the torch up high. Shadow was tracking his movement through her helm-mounted display and recording his route. This enabled him to find his way back. He slowly advanced, stopping every few steps to listen to his surroundings. He was making a slow, careful progress, but better safe than sorry. He didn't want to rush into anything like the thing they fought earlier. He went the other way this time. If there was something like a nest there, he didn't want to reach it. The hallway was long and quiet. He came to a sudden opening and saw the clockworks. He couldn't see the ceiling.

"PJ to Sierra Actual, I've found… it looks like a graveyard. Over."

"Actual to PJ, say what? A graveyard?"

"Yep. I'm starting to feel stupid for applying for the army."

"And not a moment too soon, right?"

"Sod off, I'm still in one piece."

"Be careful there and find the goddamned rope. I hate this place."

"Roger, out."

He readied his shield and sword, turned his helmet camera on and continued forward. Graveyards were always freaky, but this one felt different. PJ was passing many graves. One of them was cracked. He came closer to inspect it. The ground shook and he was thrown away by a Dust zombie, crawling out of the ground. Like one man, about twelve more crawled out of graves with dirt piled on top of them. Surprised, PJ jumped back and then charged to strike. He thought it was just a dust zombie. PJ tried to hit its waist to split it in half. His sword, however, didn't come through. PJ couldn't understand it. He didn't have much time to think about it as the zombie bashed him with its hand. He landed painfully on another gravestone.

"Wha…?"

He got up only to gaze the zombie into the eye. With cold look on his face, he dropped his sword, pulled out his needle shot and fired, hitting the monster into the face, disabling both of its eyes. With a slight smile on his lips, he kept firing, further enraging the zombies. The monsters, furious for blood, some of them blinded, charged in his direction. In the blink of an eye, he grabbed his sword and jumped out of the way. The blinded zombies reached the edge. Unaware of it, they tripped over the guardrail and fell down into the depths of the clockworks.

"PJ to Sierra Actual, I've made contact with a large group of zombies. Over."

"Status?"

"I'm still alive." He paused as he looked over his shoulder, "But I feel like being watched."


	10. C'est La Vie

**Chapter 10: C'est La Vie**

He had a strange feeling. It was harder to breathe than a second ago and it has gone darker. He listened carefully. He could hear slight wind and rumbling of the clockworks. Something caught his attention. There was a purple orb floating toward him. It emitted a loud cry and turned into a knight-looking creature. PJ snapped fingers on his left hand. He has trained his sprite to react to this command by activating the shadow cloak. PJ turned invisible and leapt aside. The Phantom struck the place where he used to be and looked around in confusion. It didn't stay confused for too long as PJ de-cloaked behind it and delivered a powerful overhead. The creature let out a loud scream and turned to strike. Its sword collided with PJs shield. He groaned under its force and lunged forward to counterattack. The beast landed on its feet. It looked like it could levitate to some extent. PJ Snapped his fingers and pointed his index finger at the Phantom. The Sprite flipped and launched a barrage of poisonous darts at the Phantom. Just as they hit the phantom, PJ charged at it again and managed to land two hits before the Phantom recovered and attacked PJ. As the sword struck him, several glyphs appeared around him and on his sword. As the glyphs around his body disappeared, the ones on his sword were still there. He dropped it on the ground and pulled out his gun. Just as the phantom tried to attack again, PJ fired. The phantom stopped, screamed and turned into a small, purple ball, floating in midair. The glyphs on his sword disappeared. He picked it up and hurried away. Just around the corner, there was a tomb with a large chandelier, held by a thick rope. It was but a minute when he walked into the room with his comrades and showed them the rope. Their cheers were replaced by shock when they reviewed his helmet camera footage. The horrifying creature lurking around there lead them to double their efforts to get out of there.

"OK, situation is as follows: We haven't been able to get the beacon topside and we still need something like a hook to be able to climb out of here. The way I see it, we'll be staying here for a while. What is our food status?"

"We have quite a lot of it and if we start running low, we can always go back to our fallen comrades and take their supplies."

"Good, but finding a hook won't be as easy as the rope."

"I've got an idea. You and Rhino go look for it. We'll stay here and track you."

"Good. Even higher chance to find some crazy beast. I like it."

Rhino brushed some imaginary dust off of his Kamarin and looked at PJ

"Look at it this way: what will the folks back at Haven think of you when you bring a trophy of some sort of crazy looking beast?"

"A trophy?"

"You know. A skull, a spine or horns."

"That's right." Added Blackcat, "How about mounting some sharp, curved horns on your helmet?"

"Or a jaw on your chin guard. How does that sound?"

"Quiet. You remind me of little girls talking about clothes for dolls. Without the trophies, of course."

They ate something, rested for a while and then Rhino and PJ headed off into the unknown. Rhino was whistling as he was strolling down the old, empty hallway. Something felt odd about this place. Aside from all the monsters, of course. Who could build these? There were no common signs of Owlites. No candles, no banners, books, or anything else. There wasn't much time to think about it. He entered the clockworks. A wave of intense heat nearly knocked him off of his feet. He stumbled upon a mausoleum. He wanted to see what was written on s sign on its wall when the ground shook and something large emerged from it.

PJ was a lot more careful this time. He didn't know if he felt better or worse knowing what lives in these ruins. He knew one thing for sure: If SEC is ever going to send someone in here again, he's not on board. He'd rather sell his eye.

"PJ, Shadow. Report status, over."

"Shadow, PJ. I got all clear here. No sign of anything. Over."

"PJ, listen, we can't reach Rhino. We know where he is, but something's wrong with his vital signs. We're reading Heartbeat over 600 beats per minute and all other readouts are a flatline."

"Send me his coordinates."

"Transmitting now, good luck. Out."

PJ turned around and brought up his locator and entered the coordinates. They showed up as a blue circle floating in mid air on his helmet display.

"I'm really glad we managed to fix this thing."

It was nothing but a minute or two when PJ walked into a fiery room with signs of intense combat. He tripped over something. It looked like a tip of a large arrow, or a spear. But it could be also used as a hook. PJ tried to pick it up. Despite its size, it was quite light. But just as he picked it up, he felt someone standing behind him. He thought it was Rhino. He turned around.

"Hi there."

He was looking at a knee. He slowly looked up and saw a large, bipedal creature looking down at him.

"Mine!" it said and hit PJ with some wooden stick. The impact knocked the metal tip out of PJ's hands. It picked it up and PJ saw what it was: the wooden stick the creature was holding was in fact a spear.

PJ brought up his shield and waited for the creature to start its attack. He expected the 3-4 meter tall giant to be slow. Interesting how much a Spiral knight can be wrong.

The hit was strong enough to knock PJ's shield off of his arm and knock him to the ground. He landed next to something he knew. A Kamarin with a smiley face carved into its blade. Rhino. He had serious doubts his Calibur could do much to this particular specimen. Without his shield, he could use both hands to operate a weapon. He pulled himself from the ground and took Rhino's Kamarin. PJ looked the creature in the eyes. It was just standing there, holding both parts of its weapon. He took a deep breath and charged.


	11. Libertas

**Chapter 11: Libertas**

PJ, however, forgot about the things shield. It stopped his attack with no trouble. Furious, PJ attacked again. The Crusader didn't have time to recover and PJ's attack knocked its weapons out of its hand. PJ was surprised by the Kamarin's balance. Despite never wielding the weapon before, he could attack nearly as quickly as with any other sword he tried before. He landed a couple more strikes and retreated to catch his breath. The following events were way beyond his expectations. The Crusader roared and threw its shield at PJ. He only tried to cover himself with the Kamarin. The giant mass of metal struck him at full force. It landed on top of him. He was trapped. Between the gap and the shield, he could see the Crusader slowly walking toward him.

A metallic ball rolled under its legs. The Super Blast Bombs explosion knocked the Crusader off of its feet. PJ tried to crawl from under the shield, but the Crusader let out a loud roar and stopped moving. As PJ got from under the shield, a familiar voice caught his attention.

"I think you have something that belongs to me."

PJ saw Rhino standing over the creature, holding a piece of metal pipe with a sharp end. He was missing his shield and a part of his wrist gauntlet, explaining the vital signs. They didn't encounter anything on their way back.

Rhino threw the makeshift grappling hook through one of the vents leading to the surface. It took a couple of tries, but eventually hooked in. Blackcat climbed up first. She felt the wind and the fresh air. It was raining and lightning struck every ten seconds or so. But she was free, at least to some extent. PJ climbed up after her. They helped Shadow up and Rhino finished the line, pulling the rope back up. Realizing they were outside, he burst out laughing in relief. Blackcat tapped his shoulder and when she spoke to him, her voice was shaking.

"Don't overreact."

She pointed at the dark courtyard. The knights could see pairs of green dots in the darkness. As the lightning lit up the surroundings, they caught a glimpse of dozens of Drouls and dust zombies. Rhino looked at his damaged wrist gauntlet. He couldn't attach a shield to it, s he was carrying it on his back.

"This won't be easy."

Blackcat tried to move her right arm. She could do so almost without pain already. PJ was very tired from looking for the equipment they needed. Shadow was still a bit weak. PJ snapped out of the shock and assumed command.

"Form a square, watch your sectors! We'll bust through."

He took the place in the front of the formation. Blackcat and Shadow took the sides, while Rhino covered their rear. His Kamarin was perfect for the job. PJ strapped a distress beacon to his back and Shadow primed her bomb. Good idea. She threw another one to Blackcat.

"Good thinking."

PJ just thought about the SEC's motto, squeezed his dog tags in his palm and attacked.

The undead horde was much softer then PJ thought, because he busted right through the first three or four lines. The explosion, caused by Shadow's bomb, combined with shield bashing cleared some additional space, and when Rhino decided to break formation, the way was even more open. It looked like they were going to get out quite easily. This impression was, however, shot to hell when one Droul got trough their defenses and, literally, slapped PJ in the face, knocking him on the ground. Not only Shadow tripped over him and fell too, but when PJ tried to get back up, he realized he couldn't see with his left eye. This could make the fight a lot harder.

"Yeah, no kidding, genius." He thought.

Shadow was holding up well, until she stepped onto something soft and fell face first to the ground. A Droul's torso landed next to her and she recognized the boot next to her. It was Rhino.

He was doing well. He heard two thuds on the ground, but disregarded them as fallen Drouls or Dust Zombies. Shadow soon proved him wrong as she got up from the ground.

"Where the hell are they all coming from?"

Nobody bothered to answer. PJ was still trying to get up, Rhino didn't have time to do anything besides swinging his sword in the general direction of the zombies and Blackcat didn't even hear her. At the time she asked, she had a certain problem involving a Droul trying to tear through her shield. The Owlite shield looked weak, but it was one of the most durable shields in terms of material. They were making slow progress toward the exit. The constant lightning strikes made it fairly easy to see and the gate was quite close. Rhino than noticed a problem.

"The gate is closed!"

"What?"

"The gate – is – sealed! We'll have to open it first!"

PJ thought it over for a second.

"Shadow, pile up as much bombs as you can, they'll get the job done. Everyone else, don't let anything within five meters from her!"

The three stood in an arch with their backs to the gate. There was clearly less of the monsters now. At least something positive. Blackcat and PJ prepared their weapons and as soon as they were in range, they released a volley of projectiles. Blackcat's Alchemer did something, but all undead were generally stronger against shadow damage. PJ's Needle shot did a little more, but not nearly enough to hold them off for too long.

"How much longer?"

"Don't know, this thing looks solid."

The creatures got closer. Close enough for the three to use their swords. Rhino rushed forward, yelling: "For mother Isora!", slicing everything in his path. PJ thought about this one time it was a good idea to take him as inspiration and did the same, albeit quietly. Blackcat didn't bother with battle cries either. She tried to survey their surroundings instead. That was when she noticed something. A strange shadow, overlooking the yard from the top of the middle tower. But before she could say anything, a strong blast nearly knocked her down.

"The gate's open!"

"Everyone outside, this sightseeing tour is over, move!"

Everyone ceased fighting and turned to run. Shadow was first through the gate and begun preparing to seal the gate behind them. Than Blackcat, PJ and rhino, who was guarding their rear. Everyone was outside.

"Fire in the hole."

Shadow blew up the portal, sealing the gate. Rhino took a deep breath.

"So, PJ, now we just wait for them to pick us up, right?"

PJ reached to his back and grabbed the beacon.

"Yeah. We…"

PJ paused.

"What the…? This light should be on…"

He rapped the beacon. it wasn't working.

"It must have been damaged when I fell."

"So… what now?"

"We walk."


End file.
